Get access to the largest applied hybrid-specific management dataset in the industry!

In the seed department at United Farmers Cooperative, we believe in living out our mission statement: “To provide innovative services, products and knowledge, for the benefit of our members, while exploring opportunities for the future.” Our agronomists commit themselves to understanding the hybrids and varieties from several brands representing the major genetic suppliers in corn and soybean breeding. Our goal is to sort out performance and placement information for the growers that we work with amongst the hybrids and varieties that are available. Accessing the amount of genetic diversity available through Dekalb/Asgrow, Croplan, Credenz, NK, and Mycogen allows us to put together a package of hybrids and varieties to meet grower needs, manage risk, and provide a strong year over year consistency in performance that could otherwise be difficult to replicate. By working with our seed industry partners and through local testing, we identify key hybrids and varieties that bring the agronomic and yield characteristics that our growers want.

Corn:

In addition to hybrid performance data, our partnership with Winfield United and the Answer Plot system gives us access to the largest applied hybrid-specific management dataset in the industry today. At around 200 sites nationally and our own site at Villisca, IA, the Answer Plot system gives us data on population, nitrogen, crop rotation, and fungicide response to help us make better hybrid-specific recommendations for our growers. The industry has lots of “high-yielding” hybrids, but as genetic potential greatly exceeds actual yield, the secret to increased success is using that specific management and placement data to put the right hybrid in the right field, and then manage it through the season with nutrition and crop protection products to end up with a lower cost per bushel at harvest time.

Our agronomists do lots of field by field seed plans, often helping to position competitive hybrids as well as our own, to give each one its best opportunity to be successful. We can also assist in creating variable rate seeding and nitrogen prescriptions, help with in-season scouting and pest management, and help make wise fungicide decisions with our hybrid specific response data and technology. Combining response scores with the R7 Tool in-season satellite imagery helps identify the areas in the field most likely to give an economic return from a fungicide application.

Looking forward into 2019, we are planning to expand our local corn plot data footprint to get a better understanding of hybrids’ local performance across a wider range of environments that are both productive and challenging. In addition, we are also investigating doing our own multi-hybrid planting trials to get more local information on this potentially promising technology. Stay Tuned!

Soybeans:
2018 will be our 3rd year of doing our local multi-brand plot sets to identify varieties that bring top tier performance to SW Iowa. By testing the best of Pioneer, Croplan, NK, Mycogen, Asgrow, and Credenz, we can confidently bring products to you that build a “Dream Team” of varieties and bring you the genetic potential to outperform the average. Sorting out varieties to identify potential agronomic challenges, identifying best in-class performance, and fine-tuning placement recommendations has been helpful in creating a stronger experience with the products that we recommend. We have also been able to demonstrate the value of the WinPak concept in soybeans, which pairs 2 high performing varieties together to give more yield consistency across variable soils and yield environments. From a seed treating perspective, in addition to our base fungicide/insecticide treatment, Warden CX, we also offer a variety of options that can be customized to meet your needs, including inoculant, Ilevo, and Nemastrike.

Simply put, no one works harder to earn your seed investment than the agronomists at UFC. And we will continue to bring our growers the latest in seed tailored to Southwest Iowa.

THANK YOU for your business and continued support. Have a safe and productive fall!